Clothing item or wearable accessory for use with a system for computing exposure to solar radiation of an individual

ABSTRACT

A clothing item or wearable accessory for use with a system for calculating the exposure to sun radiation received on the different parts of the body by a person, including a wearable device (1) that communicates with a telecommunication mobile device (2) and a remote computing unit (3) operatively connected to satellites (4) to receive georeferenced data related to solar irradiation over time and set to associate the solar irradiance data to the geographical position, the posture and the orientation of the person (P) or of parts of the person&#39;s body.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional under 37 CFR 1.53(b) of pending priorapplication Ser. No. 16/082,347 filed Sep. 5, 2018 and claims thebenefit (35 U.S.C. § 120 and 365(c)) of International ApplicationPCT/IB2017/000213 filed Mar. 6, 2017, which designated inter alia theUnited States and which claims the priority of Italian PatentApplication IT102016000023261 filed Mar. 7, 2016, the entire contents ofeach application are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to a detection system of the dose ofsolar radiation received by a person.

More specifically, the system comprises a wearable device, such as aswimsuit or a pair of sunglasses, equipped with sensors to identify theposition, posture and orientation of the person with respect to theposition of the sun and connected to devices capable of providing areal-time measurement of the actually received radiation in each part ofthe body, possibly including the eyes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

At present, systems that combine a dosimeter and clothes that can beworn by a person are known.

By way of example, document WO2013034288 is known, which describes awearable device associated with a geolocalization device and a portabledevice (smartphone) that uses UV sensors for the measurement of thesolar exposure of the person.

However, the systems of the known type do not allow the association of adetection of solar exposure, measured in particular on the basis of ageoreferenced location and the user's posture.

Therefore, what is needed is a measuring and control system of the solarexposure of a person, which is capable of carefully differentiating theexposure levels based on the position and the posture of the person.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention wants to overcome the drawbacks of the alreadyknown solutions and propose a device allowing a controlled exposure tosolar radiation in a differential way for the different parts of thebody by taking into account the direct solar radiation, diffused fromthe sky and reflected by the ground.

These objects have been achieved by developing a device according to atleast one of the appended claims.

A first advantage is that, by means of the device of the invention, themeasurement of the incident solar radiation is calculated throughprocessing of satellite images related to the state of the atmosphereand therefore without the use of wearable optical sensors.

A further advantage is that it is possible to measure the position ofthe single parts of a person's body with respect to the direction of thesun (according to the azimuth and in inclination with respect to thezenith), thus identifying the most exposed parts and performing a realtime three-dimensional measurement of the solar radiation and thecorresponding accumulated dose for each part of the body according tothe posture and orientation relative to the direction of the sun.

The present invention will be described in detail below with referenceto the attached figures. The various features of novelty whichcharacterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in theclaims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a betterunderstanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specificobjects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings and descriptive matter in which preferred embodiments of theinvention are illustrated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a system according to the invention

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of use of the device for twodifferent postures of the body; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a preferred composition of a deviceaccording to FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to the accompanying drawings, what is described is asystem for the calculation of exposure to solar radiation received by aperson, for a given range of wavelengths, which may be weighed accordingto a photobiological action spectrum of interest (e.g. CIE (CommissionInternationale de l'Eclairage) erythema action spectrum in the range of280 to 400 nm in case of UVs that may cause erythema, circadian actionspectrum in the range of 380 to 580 nm, etc.).

In the shown example, the system essentially comprises a wearable device1 with stable position and orientation with respect to the body of theperson P, equipped with sensors 6 capable of detecting the attitude ofthe body at least according to the azimuth and in inclination accordingto the position of the body during sun exposure.

Preferably, the position sensors 6 are integrally positioned on anaccessory or clothing item that can be worn so as to uniquely identifythe orientation and inclination of the body, for example at the centerof a swimsuit, integrally placed on sunglasses according to a givendirection, or embedded in an adhesive label applicable to an identifiedpart of the body.

In a possible embodiment of the invention, the position sensors comprisea magnetometer and an at least one vertical accelerometer and the devicemay further comprise a brightness sensor for detecting the person'sposition, indoor or outdoor, and a sweating/wetting sensor, preferablypositioned in the external position in order to best detect thesurrounding brightness and the external moisture condition of theperson's body.

The system also includes a geolocalization sensor 5 associated to theperson P and a remote computing unit 3 capable of exchanging data withsatellite means 4, for example via a communication interface 9, so as toreceive georeferenced data related to solar irradiation over time, andthus be able to associate the solar irradiance data to the geographicposition, the posture and the orientation of the person (P) or of partsof the person's body over time, to provide the overall incidentirradiance and the relative associated dose accumulated over time forone or more points of the body of the person (P). Global solarirradiance G(t) to the point of the body into consideration at theinstant t is defined as the sum of the contributions of the solarradiation components diffused by the sky D(t), directly by the solardisk I(t) and reflected by the ground R(t) incident at that point.

The unit 3 is also connected via an interface 8, for example via awireless network, to a portable telecommunications device 2 (for examplea smartphone with integrated GPS 5) positioned close to the person Pwhich in turn comprises an interface 7 (for example, a wirelessinterface with RF or infrared communication technology) with thewearable device 1 and the geolocalization sensor 5 to receive from thesedata D1 relating to the position and the orientation of the person andfurther comprises means 10 (for example, a display or an audible alarm)capable of providing the person P with information associated with dataD2, processed by the computing unit 3 and relative to the person'sexposure to solar radiation.

During operation, the device 1 is applied to the clothing item oraccessory, so as to assume a stable position with respect not only tothe contact, but also to the overall arrangement of the person's body.To increase the accuracy of the measurement of how the different pointsof the body are oriented in space, the device can be multiple, that is,it can be made of similar units applied to different clothing items indifferent parts of the body (e.g. one for panties and one for bras) orwearable accessories (e.g. one for panties and one for glasses) orvarious adhesive labels applicable to the identified points of the body.

The sensors 6 of the possibly multiple device are able to detect thealignment of a point of the body in space at least in terms of angle ofinclination with respect to the normal inclination to the localhorizontal plane (e.g. upright, lying, sitting positions and with thetorso bent forward at a certain angle with respect to the vertical line)and in terms of orientation on the horizontal plane with respect to acertain azimuthal reference direction (e.g. angle with respect to thegeographic North). In a more advanced version, the sensors 6 of thepossibly multiple device can measure the absolute alignment of the bodywith respect to the direction normal to the local horizon plane and withrespect to the Earth's magnetic field (corrected for the geographicNorth later on) on the three axes x-y-z and their variation over time.

By way of example, an unsuitable accessory for the application of thedevice 1 is a watch or a strap, because the rotation of the wrist,although integral with the watch, does not provide reliable directionsrelative to the orientation of the body.

Otherwise, a device positioned on a point of a swimsuit or a pair ofsunglasses worn by the user makes it possible to understand how the bodyof the person is positioned, with particular reference to the positionof the parts of the body having the greatest sensitivity, such as theshoulders or the face, by differentiating body areas AS that are themost exposed to solar radiation, and represented by way of example withdarker shading in FIG. 2, and less exposed body areas AC, represented byway of example with light background.

In particular, in the case of device 1 integral to the lenses or to theframe of glasses, it is possible to detect at each instant t thedifferent components of the incident solar radiation on the eyes of theperson P for a given wavelength of interest, also possibly taking intoaccount the optical characteristics of the lenses, by calculatinginteresting photobiological effects, such as the possible production ofmelatonin in the person P due to solar radiation, suitably weightedaccording to the circadian action spectrum in the range from 380 to 580nm.

Once activated, for example thanks to an autonomous low-consumptionpower supply, the device 1 communicates with the device 2 (smartphone ortablet etc.) and sends the data concerning the position and orientationof the body.

At the same time, the geolocalization sensor, integrated or not,communicates the person's position to the device 2.

Through the interface 8, the portable telecommunications device 2 sendsto the remote computing unit 3, for example a computing server, the dataD1 of the person related to his/her geographical position, arrangementin space, and possibly relevant characteristics relating to sun exposurecontrol (skin phototype, specific body morphology, diseases, sunscreensor therapeutic creams applied to different parts of the body,demographic information, optical characteristics of the glasses' lenses,etc.).

The unit 3 can thus process the data D1 in combination with satellitedata D2 that associate the geographic location and the arrangement ofthe body in space, a specific global solar irradiance and the relativedose affecting one or more parts of the 3D-modeled body surface.

For example, the data D2 will provide different intensities of thedirect, diffused and reflected component of solar radiation received ina given spectral range, depending on whether at that time the person Pis in a cloudy or clear area, is on clear sand or at the sea and ha agiven position (e.g. standing or lying) and orientation (facing Eastrather than West).

With this information, the unit 3 can calculate the quality and thequantity of solar radiation over time (global spectral irradiancepossibly weighted with a photobiological spectrum of interest) of one ormore points on the body, and send the person information relating to thedose received or still to be received for each point of the body (e.g.3D dosimetric thematic map), through the communication means 10(typically the smartphone display), for instance in order to:

1) suggest behaviours that allow the person not to exceed the preferredthresholds of exposure to solar radiation (e.g. alarm to stop theexposure;2) make the solar radiation dose that has been received a homogeneousdose among the different parts of the body involved (e.g. by suggestingto change the position and orientation of the body);3) information concerning the calculation of a desired exposure time ofat least a portion of the person's body and/or the calculation of arecommended amount of sunscreen to be applied or even the recommendedcharacteristics of sunglasses to be worn.

Specifically with reference to FIG. 2, the functioning of the system isdescribed in an example of use of the device for two different posturesof the body of a person P.

Through the remote computing system 3 (or even via a portable device 2when provided with computing abilities and solar ephemerides) the twoangles of the sun position on of the local horizon of the person P forthe time t are obtained, as well as the three components of the solarradiation (diffused radiation D(t), direct radiation I(t) and reflectedradiation R(t)) from satellite data processing, taking into account thelocal ground reflection coefficient for the considered wavelength aswell.

The same remote computing system 3, preferably on the basis of a 3Dmodel of the human body associated to the person P (for exampleMakeHuman—open source 3D model of the human body) and a finite elementB(i,j,k) representation of its surface (possibly enriched with specificmorphological data) is able to monitor the global solar irradiance overtime G (t,B(i,j,k)) for each point of the body of the person P.

The orientation of each point B(i,j,k) is calculated according to the 3Dmodel starting from the measurements obtained from the device 1pertaining to the orientation data at the time t for one or more knownpoints B(a,b,c) wherein the device has been positioned integrally to thebody, depending on its position and orientation with respect to thecardinal axes.

The orientation of B(i,j,k) is defined as at least the azimuth, i.e. theangle formed by projection on the horizontal plane of the line normal tothe surface in B(i,j,k) with the geographic North, and the inclination,i.e. the angle formed by the line normal to the surface in B(i,j,k) withrespect to the line normal to the local horizontal plane.

The more numerous and spaced are the devices 1 applied onto the body inknown points, the more accurate the orientation estimate of the otherpoints B(i,j,k) of body surface area according to more complex 3D bodymodels will be.

The calculated map G(t, B(i,j,k)) and the possible application of anaction spectrum of photobiological interest is then made known to theperson P via the terminal 2, by suggesting different types of behaviourbased on the dose Dose(t, B(i,j,k)) obtained as an integral over time Gand by also taking into account any photoprotective measures (e.g.suggestion of movements, rotations, total protection through clothing oraccessories such as hats, glasses . . . ) and triggering of alarmsshould a safety threshold dose be reached (e g minimum dose that maycause erythema or other photobiological effects of interest) for any oneof the points B(i,j,k) of the body surface area.

FIG. 3 shows in particular the application to the person P of anexemplary version of the embodiment of the device 1 previously shown inFIG. 1.

In this version, the device 1 is composed of two identical units 1A and1B, each constituted by an electronic subsystem 20 and a fasteningsubsystem 21 (e.g. mechanical) to the person's body or an accessoryintegral therewith. The use of one or more units constituting the device1 advantageously allows to detect the orientation and the position ofthe person with respect to the various components of solar radiation.The electronic subsystem 20 is composed for example by a detectionmodule 23, an acquisition module 24 and a communication module 25, whichare hereunder explained in detail.

The detection module 23 may comprise:

23 a. A 3-axis accelerometer with an integrated 3-axis gyroscope (suchas those that can be found integrated within the ST LSM6DS33 chip)23 b. A 3-axis magnetometer (such as those that can be found integratedwithin the ST LIS3MDL chip)

The different types of sensors can work together to generate datarelated to the angle and the angular movement of the device if comparedto the axes of the magnetic field and the Earth's gravitational axis foreach of the body parts: the upper portion (torso) and the lower portion(pelvis). Data can be generated with an adjustable frequency, typicallybetween 200 Hz and 0.01 Hz.

The detection module 24 may comprise:

24 a. A battery (e.g. a lithium polymer battery)24 b. A mass data storage support (for example, a NAND flash memory)24 c. A microcontroller (for example, one of the AtMega Atmel series)24 d. An electronic control system for the proper functioning of thesystem.

The acquisition module performs the following functions:

-   -   It manages the power supply to the various components of the        device and battery recharge.    -   It allows data interfacing among components.    -   It handles data collection from sensors, and it may temporarily        store them on an integrated data storage device.    -   It handles the communication with the device 2 (e.g. smartphone)        by using the communication interface 7. Communication may be        uninterrupted or upon request of the smart device.

The communication module 25 may comprise:

25 a. A communication chip (such as a Bluetooth 4.0 LE module that canbe integrated within the Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822 chip)25 b. A communication antenna, e.g. with Bluetooth technology.

The mechanical fastening subsystem 21 can be composed of two or moremodules:

a containment module 26 of the electronic subsystem that is probablymade of non-flexible plastic material, at least water and dust-proof(e.g. IP65-compatible)

one or more mechanical fastening modules 27 for integrally fastening thedevice to the human body which is being measured, which could be made ofplastic material (flexible or rigid materials depending on theapplication) and which may be similar, for example, to a bracelet, anecklace, an anklet, a clip, a belt, or other wearable items that couldbe even adhesives which can be directly applied to the skin of theperson in a certain position of the body.

In a typical operating form, the device 2 that presents the data to theperson P allows the initialization of the measuring system at time t0,allowing it to interact with the person P to identify the mechanicalpositioning of the device 1 on the body and the position of the body atthat instant. For example: unit 1A at the centre of the chest, unit 1Bat the front central position at the pelvis level, position type:upright. For safety and calibration check reasons, it may also bepossible to verify the correspondence of the calculations by asking theperson P to verify their accuracy by orienting according to a knownpoint based on which the sensor is mounted oriented towards thedirection of the sun (if the sky is clear) or the geographical North (ifthe person P has another independent compass).

The invention has been described with reference to a preferredembodiment, but it is understood that equivalent modifications can thenbe made without departing from the scope of protection granted to thepresent industrial patent.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed in detail to illustrate the application of the principles ofthe invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodiedotherwise without departing from such principles.

What is claimed is:
 1. A clothing item or wearable accessory having astable position and orientation with respect to a body of a person, theclothing item or wearable accessory comprising: a device provided withsensors capable of detecting a position of the body according to anazimuth and an inclination with respect to a vertical line depending onthe position that the body has during sun exposure; and a means forsending collected data concerning the position and an orientation of theperson to a system used to calculate the exposure to solar radiationreceived by the person.
 2. A clothing item or wearable accessoryaccording to claim 1, further comprising: brightness andsweating/wetting sensors.
 3. A clothing item or wearable accessoryaccording to claim 2, wherein the brightness and the sweating/wettingsensors are positioned on an outside of the device of the clothing itemor wearable accessory.
 4. A clothing item or wearable accessoryaccording to claim 1, wherein the sensors capable of detecting aposition of the body are integrally positioned on the clothing item orwearable accessory so as to uniquely identify the orientation andinclination of the body of the person.
 5. A clothing item or wearableaccessory according to claim 1, further comprising: a plurality ofclothing items or wearable accessories, wherein the position sensors areintegrally positioned on the plurality of clothing items or wearableaccessories, so as to identify the orientation and inclination of partsof the body of the person.
 6. A clothing item or wearable accessoryaccording to claim 1, wherein the position sensors comprise amagnetometer and at least one vertical accelerometer.
 7. A clothing itemor wearable accessory according to claim 1, wherein the means forsending collected data concerning the position and an orientation of theperson comprises a wireless interface.
 8. A clothing item or wearableaccessory according to claim 1, wherein the clothing item is a swimsuitand the position sensors are integrally positioned at a center of theswimsuit.
 9. A clothing item or wearable accessory according to claim 1,further comprising sunglasses, wherein the position sensors areintegrally placed on the sunglasses.